Sittwe port in Myanmar is ready for operations: Mansukh Mandaviya

Originally scheduled to be completed by 2014, the project aims to reduce the cost and time for the transportation of goods and essentials from mainland India to Mizoram. Goods will be transported from Kolkata to Sittwe by sea and then up the Kaladan river by boat to Paletwa in the Chin state of Myanmar and from there to Mizoram by road.

In an interview, Mandaviya also said that India is boosting infrastructure at Kochi port on the west coast and Tuticorin port on the east to reduce the dependence on foreign ports like Colombo for the transshipment of cargo meant for India. Edited excerpts:

What is the status of the Sittwe port that India has been building in Myanmar? When is it likely to be operationalized?

The port construction is complete. Now, a private company needs to start operating that port. That company has been identified. In the next few days, the port will be operationalized. All the work is complete.

Which is the company that has been chosen to operate the port?

You will get to know very soon. The company will be made responsible for running the port, all aspects of it. Our job was to create the infrastructure, which has been done.

There were plans to develop another port at Dawei in Myanmar. Where are we on that?

It is the ministry of external affairs that decides on these things… which port to develop in which country. We implement the decision once it’s taken.

What is the status of the development of Duqm port in Oman and Sabang port in Indonesia?

I will not comment on these.

The shipping ministry had plans to develop deepwater ports on the east coast of India to cut the reliance on foreign ports for the transshipment of India-bound cargo. There were also plans to make India a hub for transshipment. What about these plans?

We have identified Tuticorin to be a transshipment hub along the east coast and on the west coast, we have identified Kochi. In Kochi, even today we have some transshipment activity taking place. In Tuticorin, despite covid-19, a lot of transshipment activities happened. In the coming days, the drafts (the distance between the keel to the waterline of a ship) will be increased to accommodate ships with 16 metre drafts in Kochi. The draft there is already 14 metres. It has to be increased by two metres. In Tuticorin also, it is 14 metres and it has to be increased to 16 metres. We will make it comparable to Colombo port so that large-sized vessels can come to India. Work is being done on this front under the Atmanirbhar Bharat programme to reduce the dependence on other countries. Our aim is that Indian cargo should be transshipped from Indian ports and that this should happen on a large scale. We are close to the east-west waterways corridor (in the Indian Ocean). Kochi is very close to this. We need to utilize this as much as possible.

Infrastructure is now being put in place to meet the demands of transshipment. A port terminal has been developed, a bridge had to be made, that is done, railway lines have been laid. The aim is to rely less and less on ports out of the country (like Singapore and Colombo).

On the privatization of Shipping Corporation of India, which are the companies that have bid for it?

That work is being looked at by Dipam (Department of Investment and Public Asset Management).

Last week, the shipping ministry organized the Maritime India Summit. What are some of the key takeaways from this?

Essentially, we had two aims while organizing the summit. One was to lay out the India Maritime Vision 2030 in front of the world. So, now the world knows what India plans to do in the maritime sector—what is our roadmap for the coming days. Second is that there is a great deal of interest in India’s rising maritime sector in the world. A proof of this is that there have been 427 MoUs (preliminary agreements) that have been signed, investment commitments worth more than ₹3 lakh crore have been made. Many international companies have said that they will only engage Indian seafarers. This means a big job opportunity for our people. There were extensive discussions on island development and many companies showed interest in this. Other areas of interest for foreign participants were shipbuilding, ship recycling, ship repairs, port development, port-led industrialization and other kinds of port development work, inland waterways and inland waterways infrastructure development. The speed of development of India’s maritime sector will increase because of the interest shown by foreign and Indian participants. Our aim is that by 2030, India’s maritime sector performance matches that of the global level. We have prepared a roadmap for this that has been welcomed by the world.